Ryan
Chasing greatness

It has been quite a while since I last wrote anything.  I’ve been working happily with my new job since May, and have been a bit too busy to dedicate any time to writing down anything for the few people who would consume it.  Christmas however, deserves a few words.

Let me begin by saying this Christmas was the best Christmas I have ever had.

Now, let me betray that with some words.

My Christmas started the weekend of my wife’s birthday, which is two weeks prior to the real deal.  We decided to go to Asheville to have an early Christmas with my family and to see the Biltmore Estate for the first time.  It was a great and wonderful time with my family, and I couldn’t have been happier about it.

After that warm up, it was time for the serious holiday cheer in the mecca of civilization, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

That’s right.

Now, the truth is I would be content to live there.  The truth is I look forward to going there every time.  The truth is that is still Oklahoma.  What made it very special though, was that our three best friends from Japan came to visit.  Two of the most emotional times in my life was proposing to my wife and saying goodbye to my friends at Christmas.

We shot guns, ate BBQ and Taco Bell, saw Christmas lights, had 3 Christmases, wrapped presents, rode four-wheelers, spent around 12 hours in Wal-Mart, stayed up late because we didn’t want to waste time sleeping, and woke up early to get more time together.

They had intended to go to Manhattan to meet some other friends and check out all of that, but there was a blizzard that was the best worst news we all got.

It took probably 6 hours of being on the phone to get their flights changed, but in the end we got to spend 3 more days with our friends, and every day we had I became more aware of how harder saying good-bye would be.

Anyway, below are links to the pictures and such that we took, so enjoy at you’re leisure.

So, I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this before, but I have a total man crush on Jacuqes Pepin. He’s pretty much the only cook that matters. Only reason you don’t feel the same way is that you aren’t familiar with him.

Lets fix that.

First, go find him on KQED or PBS and you want his “Complete Pepin” DVDs. Now, if you’re going to be a turd about this and not buy the only DVD that could make you respectable in the kitchen, go find him on YouTube. Most of his shows are free. The DVD however, is not the same, it’s his techniques. Not recipes and meals.

Let me show you what you get on the first DVD. I’m not drunk or anything starting the list at two. It corresponds to a magical system of numbering based of the DVD titles I yanked.

2) Toast Melba
3) Croutons
4) Slicing Bread
5) Separating Eggs
6) Making Mayonnaise
7) Omelets!
8) Poached Eggs
9) Prepping Souffle Dishes
10) Hard Boiled Eggs
11) Orange Souffle Surprise (Recipe)
12) Crab Cakes (Recipe)
13) Peeling an Apple
14) Peeling a Pear
15) Julienne of Orange Peel
16) Puree of Raspberry
17) Pear in Grenadine and White Wine Sauce (Recipe)
18) Zimfour (Recipe)
19) Pate Choux (Recipe)
20) Leg of Lamb (Recipe)
21) Veal Chops (Recipe)
22) Roast (Recipe)
23) Cutting Flank Steak
24) Veal Scallopini
25) Carving Leg of Lamb
26) Deboning and Preparing Leg of Lamb
27) Carving Roast Beef
28) Preparing Chicken for Grilling
29) Preparing Chicken for Saute or Stew
30) Roasting a Chicken
31) Trussing a Chicken
32) Boning out a Chicken
33) Defatting Chicken Stock
34) Deglazing and Making Natural Gravy
35) Carving a Chicken
36) Carving a Turkey
37) Turkey and Stuffing (Recipe)
38) Peeling, Slicing, and Dicing Onions
39) Cleaning and Preparing Leeks
40) Preparing and Cutting Peppers
41) Preparing Asparagus
42) Artichokes
43) Tomatoes
44) Lettuce
45) Chopping Parsley
46) Basil
47) Garlic
48) Artichokes (Recipe)
49) Asparagus (Recipe)
50) Soup (Recipe)
51) Stuffed Vegetables (Recipe)

Since nobody reads this, I feel fine writing about it here.

I have nearly finished a little experiment on player immersion. I got the idea when I was listening to Robert Rice‘s talk on video game immersion at TGC. He broke down elements of immersion and helped draw connections between technology and it’s impact on player’s experience.

Anyway, I still have 3 things to do. I’m going to be getting art from Ciara Livingston, someone I work with at the bookstore, whose style is perfect for this, edit all of the text for better style and impact, and finally get the final voice recording for the closing.

I can’t count. The fourth thing I need to so is create a Google form to collect information on the experiment so I can get an idea of how good it is or how much of a waste of time it is.

Anyway, here’s the link.

Well, here we go. I hope this isn’t horrible and doesn’t require too much editing, but essentially, I’m posting through TextMate. It’s a great editor, and the more I use it, the more I love it.

This is a new paragraph.

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So I’m making white chicken stock for the first time.  I guess it isn’t technically hard to do, but then again neither is boiling an egg, but most people can’t do that right either.  So we’ll see how this turns out.

After being inspired at the Triangle Game Conference, I decided to open up some projects.  First, I’m writing a simple little experiment that will hopefully prove some ideas I have on immersing players in a story.  I’ve already done the technical work, so I just have to create content.  Thankfully I made it a point to do this rather low tech, so it wont’ require much, but I have got an artist to help.  Her name is Ciara Livingston and I think her artwork will only make this better.  I’ve also convinced my wife to do a voice recording.  Exciting stuff!

In the job world, I’ve started a project that involves actual software development.  Web development specifically.  I’m creating a web tool that will modify apache configurations live.  I don’t think anyone has done this before, mostly because it isn’t something you want a lot of people to go around doing.  Either way, it’s an exciting change of pace from my normal system administration work.

On Sunday my wife and I will have been married two years.  Holy shit.